UNIOP

United Optical & Mechanical Supplies Company Limited is a Themiclesian listed company (stock symbol and also trade name: UNIOP) most known for manufacturing cameras, camcorders, lenses, optical discs and drives, medical equipment, laser sources (including semiconductor manufacturing), and other products involving optics. The company was first incorporated in 1881 as the Bridge Lens Company, specializing in eyeglass lenses, and steadily expanded its business over the 19th and 20th centuries to cover a much wider range of products.

The company, becoming a virtual monopoly, was made to spin-off several of its businesses in the 1970s; at its peak it was the fifth-largest company by capitalization in the L'wats Stock Exchange.

Products

Cameras and lenses

Popular Themiclesian plate formats

UNIOP's foray into the camera business was a secondary development of its position in the lens business, as the camera itself was a relatively uncomplicated implement. The joint development of both camera and lens seems to have resulted in a very dependable working relationship between the two elements of the photographic outfit, such that if the photographer matched the correct lens to the body, there would be few things possible on the camera that would not be supported by the lens.

Up to the 60s, the standard plate size in Themiclesia for studio photographs with static subjects was 9 in × 7 in (229 mm × 178 mm) or "whole plate" size. This means, absent a differing instruction by the client, a photograph studio will most often provide a negative of 9×7 and a contact print of the resulting image. For field and press work, 5 in × 4 in (127 mm × 102 mm) "press plate" size was standard, enabling a considerable cutting of camera size, yet for large landscapes, a 13 in × 10 in (330 mm × 254 mm) "double plate" size is accepted. All three filmstock sizes are considered professionally acceptable and are conventionally exposed with view cameras. Press photographers gravitated away from the 5×4 by the mid-1970s and adopted the 135 film exposed in an SLR, later enlarged in the press room; this process obviated the need to expose negatives the same size as the eventual print.

Amateur photographers at the turn of the 20th century mostly utilized the same equipment as professionals, meaning they must have financial werewithal to support their hobby. The introduction of rollfilm and hand-held cameras not requiring firm support changed this situation, and it appears by the 1950s rangefinder cameras exposing 135 film had become normal in amateur and tourist hands.

Portable (Professional)

In 1899, UNIOP released its first Portable Camera which made the camera bellows fully collapsible between the front and rear standards (which slid into each other), and the bed then folded up behind the rear standard. The lens was easily removed for stowage in a separate lens-case. A handle was added to the rear standard such that when folded, the camera could be carried with one hand. Similarly, a collapsible tripod came with every camera/lens set. The whole ensemble, including tripod, weighed no more than 18 pounds (8.2 kg). The Portable Camera sold over 4,000 units in the first year of its announcement and is considered one of the first mass-market cameras in Themiclesia and beyond. It is associated with the emergent phenomenon of amateur photography when combined with dry-sensitized media on both plate and film.

The Portable was a slow-evolving product that saw most uses by professional photographers once the lighter Hyper Portable was introduced, but it did receive updates in 1910, 1932, and finally in 1948, when it was up-sized to take a double-plate size film at 13 in × 10 in (330 mm × 254 mm). The Portable Camera was replaced by Portable Professional in 1971, which was commonly used for commercial work that demanded the highest quality negatives possible.

Hyper

In 1903, the Portable was joined by the Hyper-Portable which was fully encased in a cushioned wooden box surfaced with leather. The company demonstrated the hardiness of the Hyper-Portable by dropping it from a second-storey window and showing it suffered no damage. More metal components were added to the Hyper-Portable in its second and third iterations to increase its resilience. To make focusing easier, a rangefinder was also introduced with the Hyper-Portable in 1921. Photojournalism, according to Martin Sak, was raised in Themiclesia virtually by the Hyper-Portable—with the rangefinder and flash, it was generally possible to take pictures without asking for the subject to stand still. The Hyper (as marketed since 1925) weighed 8 pounds (3.6 kg) with accessories and 6 pounds (2.7 kg) without.

The Hyper was capable of taking photographic film of different sizes based only on its cut film holder. The largest and commonest film that a standard Hyper could take was 9 in × 7 in (229 mm × 178 mm) or "whole plate" size. By adjusting internal guides, the Hyper could take smaller film at 7 in × 5 in (178 mm × 127 mm) "half plate" size or 5 in × 4 in (127 mm × 102 mm) "mini" size. By the same mechanism even smaller films could be loaded, but without changing the lens, the resulting photograph would appear very cropped. To use larger film, an adapter that expands the size of the rear standard is needed. Standard back-expansions made by UNIOP supported cut film of up to 12 × 9​¹⁄₂ inch size, which cannot be stowed into the Hyper case and severely reduces the portability of the camera when used.

Two smaller versions of the Hyper were introduced in 1937 that supported film up to 7×5 and up to 5×4, respectively. The latter model is also known as the Mini Hyper and became the standard camera for photojournalists until the 70s. The half-plate size model was not as popular as either model larger or smaller than it and was discontinued in 1951. By 1948, UNIOP was about to announce that it had shipped its 100,000th Portable (the derivatives counted together), with 100 free cameras (valued at $235 each) given away at a large celebretory event.

The Hyper is also known through its use in war photography and fine art photography. The Maracaibo government procured 280 Hypers and 800 Mini Hypers from UNIOP in 1934, many of which went into the hands of war journalists who recorded the details of the ensuing Maracaiboan War in remarkable detail between 1938 and 1945. The Themiclesian government made UNIOP its standard supplier of photographic implements during the war and also ordered thousands of Hyper for military photographers who were required to document the war in detail.

UNIOP's camera lineup is credited as one of the earlier attempts to create a product ecosystem that combined most elements of photography, from camera, lens, film, development, and mechanical maintenance. Much attention has been spent on prolongation of the useful life and versatility of UNIOP cameras, in the expectation that owners would return to UNIOP to purchase more accessories and consumables over the camera's useful life and thus remain a source of revenues for the company. This is particularly true of the Hyper series of cameras, which according to UNIOP's estimation had more than 200,000 units in consistent use globally in 1950. UNIOP even made a Toy-Portable in 1948 that shot 135 film in cartridges to entice children who, UNIOP executives believed, would not be able to load cut film reliably, yet the Toy was contrived to have the same external shape and meant to be operated the same way as the Hyper and not like a typical rangefinder or single-lens reflex camera.

In the 1950s, Hyper sales remained consistent, which slowly peaked in 1960. By 1967, a steady decline ensued as improving film quality and enlargement made smaller film formats viable for professional photography. Smaller film allows for a physically smaller and lighter camera, while cartridge film was easier to manipulate in the field than cut film, which necessitated a separate film holder to change. In the 1970s and 1980s, UNIOP continued to manufacture Hyper in limited quantities for outdoor professional work. For 1982, UNIOP announced that the Hyper had sold less than 1,000 units for the first time in the product's history, though accessory sales had stopped declining and became consistent.

The Hyper Mini, which took 5 in × 4 in (127 mm × 102 mm) film, was renamed the Hyper Field Professional in 1973 because the "Mini" label conflicted with the Luminax Maximal model which shot 6 by 7 cm roll film.

Luminax

Luminax originated as an importer of Ostlandic cameras using 135 film but started manufacturing its own cameras in 1925. Originally, these cameras were sold toys at department stores, and their quality was not meant to impress Themiclesians who had pictures taken by professional photographers, whether in the studio or in other settings. The monicker "toy camera", accepted by Luminax itself with the product names Toy Crystal (1927) and Toy Gallery (1928), indicated it was not for the production of quality work.

The company adopted a more serious tone in 1931, marketing its cameras as "best in class" shooting 135 film, though no claim was made to compare it with "real" cameras that offered ground glass focusing and camera movements. From 1934 onwards, Luminax reversed the positioning of its products as mere toys and tried to overcome or compensate for the inherent technical limitations of the small format: while ground glass focusing cannot be done for obvious reasons, Luminax introduced a built-in rangefinder, viewfinder, and light meter. It challenged "serious amateurs and working professionals" to try the Luminance (1933) for work and claimed that the Luminance's lack of acceptance is due to prevailing stigma. Despite the creative marketing, it seems the Luminance did not sell so well on its own merits. The second model after the Luminance was named the Luminax after the manufacturer itself and was the most fully-featured small camera in pre-war Themiclesia.

At the start of the war, policy was that seeing the battle as it occurred would allow strategists more insights, and thus the government established a great deal of photographic positions in the military. Luminax undertook to produce small cameras that soldiers could use to document battlefield action and then stow away while they engaged in other work. For this purpose the canister film format of 135 film was considered preferable over the cut film format used by, for example, UNIOP's Portable series, as changing film holders (each of which took two exposures) took more time, and a stash of film holders was bulky compared to a canister of 135 film; the camera itself was also much lighter. For this work, the image quality was not an overriding concern as long as objects remained identifiable.

However, Luminax struggled to produce lenses of sufficient quality on its own and at the quantity required by the government. Up to this point, Luminax was UNIOP's competitor and didn't make cameras compatible with UNIOP optics, but the Board of Trade made efforts to facilitate their co-operation. Taking advantage of government patronage, UNIOP outright purchased Luminax in 1940 and manufactured lenses and other optics for Luminax cameras. By 1947 a Luminax could be found in virtually every platoon in the Consolidated Army. As the forces were demobilized starting that year in preparation for the end of the Menghean occupation, surplus cameras were gathered and sold, often to soldiers who either used them or saw them used in the forces. With no fewer than 40,000 cameras going into private hands over the next four years, cameras were to become relatively common possessions in Themiclesia.

After the war, UNIOP's acquisition of Luminax provided an important advantage for Luminax cameras: they are now sold at ubiquitous UNIOP dealerships and workshops and thus tested in person rather than mail-ordered as was formerly the case. By 1949, an increasing proportion of camera sales was coming from Luminax cameras over UNIOP's own line of cameras, as a standard Luminax ($54) was priced at a fraction of a Hyper 45 ($335), the standard Hyper 79 ($445), or the Portable ($680), while the quality of the negatives proved acceptable when enlarged modestly to a pocket-sized print. UNIOP manufactured the optical enlargers that further helped the Luminax film become acceptable for press work. Seizing on the explosion of camera ownership after the war, UNIOP developed many more lines of cameras within the early 50s for nearly every budget.

• Luminax Professional
• Luminax

In 1960, Luminax released its first single-lens reflex camera called the Luminax P1.

In 1988, UNIOP divested the Luminax division after Themiclesian courts found UNIOP in breach of the country's anti-monopoly laws. Despite the divestiture, UNIOP continued to be the contracted manufacturer of Luminax lenses, which became the principal component of its camera business because the Portable series, in all its versions, had slowed to a trickle. Perhaps ironically, Luminax would itself run afoul of the same monopoly laws in 2005.

See also

• Themiclesia